Karizma: Reborn
Chapter 27: Ryleigh

Ryleigh was magically training with Bailey on the outskirts of town. Jackson was leaning against a tree, his arms crossed over his chest as he observed the sisters. Ryleigh had protested his chaperoning, but he ultimately won the argument. If something happened to her while Lukas was gone, and he was not present to aid, he would never forgive himself. I can understand that. If I had fought harder to keep Kristopher here with us, he would have been safe. If I had fought harder against the mating pull with Lukas, I would not be pregnant now, and Kristopher would be safe. Ryleigh cried out in frustration, and her magic decapitated a tree.

“Stop blaming yourself,” Bailey said as her magic worked to fuse the tree back together.

“Stop wasting your magic on the tree and make sure that your cloak is intact,” Ryleigh snapped.

“Hey, I’m not the one on radar for another two years,” Bailey retorted. “My cloak is just a precaution. Yours is quite necessary. Maybe you should stop decapitating trees and focus on yourself.” Ryleigh instinctively checked her cloak, and found it secured around her. She had begun to feel the toll that her cloak was taking on her. She had remembered the exhaustion from her magic being active every second of every hour, of every day, but this exhaustion was new; her magic was actively working for two people, not just one. She could feel the exhaustion start to work its way out, from her womb to her skin. It was only a matter of time when her wolf would need to fuel the adrenaline to solidify the cloak.

“Just, please, keep a handle on yours,” Ryleigh said softly. “It’s exhausting, and, like you said, you don’t need it full time yet. Just…become familiar with it, yeah?”

“You know that I will, but, when you guys win, I won’t need it. We won’t need it.”

“Plan for the worst, Bailes, even if it’s already happened,” Ryleigh added. She hoped that Lukas would replace Kristopher and bring him back to the pack, but she knew that it was wishful thinking.

Ryleigh outstretched her hand to Bailey, and Bailey did the same. Ryleigh’s magic flowed through her fingertips into the ball of her hand. As she touched her fingertips to Bailey’s, their magic intertwined with each other. Both sisters instinctively hissed in response. Their magics were polar opposites; Ryleigh’s magic was lava and Bailey’s magic was arctic. Feeling and understanding the other’s magic was a shockwave. Ryleigh closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling of their blended magic; a heat so intense that it was freezing, a cold so frigid that it was burning. The power of the blended magic pulsated between their fingers and spilled out on to the ground beneath them. Ryleigh felt the grass beneath their feet melt into icicles.

Ryleigh gasped as a bolt new magic invaded the frigid magma. Shockwaves of lightning jolted throughout her body. Ryleigh slowly removed her hand from Bailey’s, but the electricity remained. Ryleigh felt her magic pool into her palm, thick magma threatening to burn her skin. The electricity in her veins sparked against the magma, and fire erupted in Ryleigh’s hand. The ball of fire slowly grew, but it did not burn her. The fire had a tingling sensation, as if it was a ball of static rather than a ball of fire. She slowly moved her hand from side to side as she observed the fire. Another blast of electricity exploded into the fire, and the ball expanded; it not only consumed her palm but reached out to graze her fingertips. Ryleigh wiggled her fingers, and the ball of fire danced among them. She thrust her fingers flat suddenly, and the ball brightened. She stared deep into the ball of fire, as if it could answer the bane of its existence. Ryleigh had never been able to physically manifest her magic; it was always an invisible force that she could control. Manifesting magic was severely rare, almost mythical. “Riles,” Bailey whispered. “You’re like a—”

“Goddess,” Lukas’ soft voice finished. Ryleigh’s head snapped up and her eyes focused on Lukas. She had been so consumed with her magic that she had not heard him return. Her wolf had even grown silent during the ordeal. Lukas’ blue eyes were bright in amazement as he studied the fireball in Ryleigh’s hand. He slowly approached her, and her eyes shifted back to the fire. She inhaled deeply and slowly closed her fist, extinguishing the fire. She rolled her hand from palm up to palm down as she examined the skin, determined to see the answer for the manifestation on the surface.

“Have you ever done that before?” Lukas asked gently.

“No,” Ryleigh whispered.

“The only Karizma that I think that can do that is Naomi,” Bailey answered.

“Manifesting magic into a physical form is so rare, it is almost fiction,” Ryleigh added. She looked up at Lukas. “My magic felt different this time. Like there was an extra boost of life in it.” She smiled and looked down at her stomach. “Of course. Our wolf is the lightning.”

“Our wolf,” Lukas mumbled. He slipped an arm around Ryleigh and used his free hand to tilt her face up to him. “She is as strong as her mother.”

“No, my love, she is even stronger,” Ryleigh whispered. “Karizma and Lycan blood running through her veins, and the daughter of the Alpha. She is how we will survive this.” Ryleigh’s eyes widened slightly. “You did not replace Kristopher.” It was a statement, not a question.

Lukas shook his head. “There was a struggle. A friend of his stopped by while I was there. He said that only Kristopher would know where the Master was taking him, and that I shouldn’t look for him.”

“He’s not wrong. Interfering with Master’s plan could cost you your life.”

“Not quite the reaction that I thought I would get from you.”

“Well, he said that you shouldn’t look for him, right? When I replace him, I can make myself known, and offer a trade. It would be my chance to get close to Naomi and end this damn war before it can start.”

Lukas simply pulled Ryleigh close and sighed. She felt the defeat sink into his bones, felt the fear that made his heart skip a beat. Ryleigh nuzzled into his chest and looked up at him. “You are rather powerful, you know,” she whispered.

“I wasn’t the one that was holding a fireball,” Lukas chuckled.

“But you were the reason why I was holding it, how I was holding it. Your daughter is strong, my love. You need to trust us. Our magic is already beginning to sync together. It’s…it’s like she knows that there is a war coming. It’s like she knows that I will need help, and she’s giving it to me. She’s offering her magic to me.”

“And you’re barely pregnant,” Bailey added softly.

“Exactly,” Ryleigh nodded. “With each passing moment, I am getting stronger. We are getting stronger. I can do this,” she whispered as she placed a hand on his face. “I can kill Naomi. I can kill Nathan. We can all be free, and then I can give birth to our daughter.”